10 Concept Car Success Stories: The Ones that Made it to the Production Line

In 1961, Chevy designers created a vehicle that looked like it could have sprung from the pen of a modern-day Hot Wheels artist. Dubbed the XP-755 Mako Shark, the car sported a long snout bristling with vents, massive rocker-mounted exhaust pipes and a shark-inspired two-tone paint job.

A smash hit at auto shows, the Mako Shark went on to become -- largely untampered with -- the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray.

In an early example of product placement, General Motors supplied a Mako Shark car to appear on the popular television series Route 66 (it was one of many vehicles the company routinely put on the program) [source: General Motors].

To this day, the Sting Ray remains one of the more memorable and classic iterations in the Corvette's long and storied evolution.

The final concept car on our list is a fire-breathing, radioactive, giant lizard from Japan. OK, not literally, but this entry from the Land of the Rising Sun has terrorized its much higher-priced rivals on the track since its debut. Learn more on the next page.